Space Shuttle Discovery Landing

We had another opportunity to watch a space shuttle landing! This time it was the Discovery at Edwards AFB on September 11th, 2009. Kevin and Sarah Ford were heading down their with their girls to watch the landing so I was going to go down there with Katie as well since I was watching her while Michelle went out with the "ladies from school" for her birthday.

Michelle decided to come down and watch the landing thinking she'd be back in time to go out, but she ended up being too late so they cancelled. We went to the Golden Catina restaurant at Rosamond airport after the landing, this was the first time the Ford's were there. The food was good as usual, but there was a ton of people and a huge wait (why Michelle was late), but all places were packed from everybody coming off Edwards from the landing. It was pretty late and we needed to eat before heading back home.

Here is the video of the landing.

Visualizing IFR approaches

I haven't been IFR legal for 3 years now, but I want to start getting back into the swing of things. On the way back from getting the pitot-static and transponder check, I decided to do some VFR practice approaches. I didn't have a safety pilot so I was unable to go "under the hood" and log the approaches and I had to keep an eye out for traffic, so I didn't get any simulated practice, but it is a great way to start knocking the rust of the procedures part of flying IFR.

I found a great website with instructions on how to overlay GPS tracks and maps and import them into Google Earth. I scanned the approach plates of the approaches I flew and calibrated them per the instructions so I can overlay my GPS track and the intended approach. Here is the site with the instructions. http://lets-go-fly.com/GPS-training-aid.pdf

Here are some pictures I captured. I only spent a little time adjusting the opacity of the maps so that you can see the Google Earth satellite view underneath so the map is pretty faded, but I think you can see all the pertinent information.

Here is the 2D VOR-B approach into Fox Field near Lancaster, CA (KWJF). I like this view because you can easily see the effect of the wind on my hold entries and holding pattern. I actually wasn't going to practice any holding, but the controller got busy and issued a hold so I got some practice anyways. I'd like to think I would have done a better job of compensating for the wind on successive holds had I done them.

Here is the 3D approach for VOR-B at WJF.

Here is the 2D ILS-25 approach into Palmdale, CA (KPMD) just south-east of WJF. I received vectors to the final approach course and was limited to a 3000 ft DH by the tower instead of the published 2703 ft.

Here is the 3D ILS-25 approach at PMD. My DH was limited on this approach, that's why it doesn't look like I get very low to the ground.

After the ILS, I had enough fun for the day so I decided to head back home to Inyokern. Now I just have to do some more reviewing, finish my checklists, and then start flying with a safety pilot on my way back to regaining my IFR currency.

Catching up on posting flight videos

I've really been getting behind on editing videos; I have hundreds of videos of Katie I still have to go through. I put together some of our recent flights and posted them below. Enjoy.

Flight to Watsonville, CA to visit Aunts and Uncles in Santa Cruz. This was the first time Katie met them.

Flight to Tehachapi, CA for the EAA Pancake Breakfast. If you listen, you can hear the controller tell me to switch over to advisory frequency since an airplane ran off the runway and spilt fuel. The airplane actually didn't run off the runway, but instead lost control in ground affect and crashed into the airport boundary fence. The pilot was not injured, but the airplane is probably totaled.

Flight to San Diego. We tried flying down there many times, but it seems to be too foggy every time. The real issue is that it gets windy and turbulent in the afternoon desert so we need to head to San Diego late enough for the fog to burn off, but early enough to get back before the wind picks up. We flew into Montgomery field and at breakfast at Casa Machado. The food and service was excellent and the view of the ramp/runway was great.

N951CC flies to Flabob (Riverside)

I've got so many videos to catch up on; we've been too busy doing things and not catching up on posting them. Here is a flight that we took to Flabob (KRIR) near Riverside CA. The weather was excellent, visibility forever and smooth winds out of the north.

I've heard many people talk about the turbulence in Cajon Pass, but I was naive thinking it would be fine since the air was so smooth. Since Flabob is just south of the pass, I started my descent early and flew down into the pass so I wouldn't have to circle to lose altitude over the airport. That is when it hit. I immediately slowed the airplane down since I like my wings intact and we were climbing 1500 - 2000 ft/min at the min cruise power setting and 10 degrees of flap. Michelle says this was about the worse turbulence she has ever flown in, but wasn't as bad since it was real short (only 5-10 minutes until we cleared the pass) and it was plenty cool. The heat is what really makes the turbulence bad.

We flew well over the Ontario class C airspace and I circled to descend just east of the airport. After I finally made it down to pattern altitude, I entered flying an upwind entry to westbound runway. It became interesting when we turned downwind to notice that there was a mountain right in the way for my base turn. It decided we'd cut inside the mountain for a short base/final instead of flying all the long way around. Surprisingly, I made the approach just fine, there were plenty of opportunities to instigate a go-around; I would have gone around the mountain the second time.

The airport is really small and seems like a throw back in time. There are airplanes tied down that look like they are waiting to disintegrate in place. Michelle thought it looked like a "honke airport you'd see in the Midwest." The restaurant had a great atmosphere with historic photos of the airport all over the walls and models hanging from the ceiling. The food was good and it seemed like most people's service was really good, but it seemed like the waitress kept forgetting about our table in the corner.

On the way back, we had a stiff crosswind for takeoff and I climbed above the pass before crossing the mountains and the turbulence wasn't nearly as bad.